Contact championship held in honour of two late grandmasters
Grandmaster Henri Eksteen said young fighters are also allowed in the championship so that they can learn self-defense at a young age.
POLOKWANE – The 18th annual Battle in the Bush all styles karate do championship was held on December 3 by Henri Eksteen Fight Club in tribute of two late gentlemen: grandmaster from Britain, Ronnie Colwell and actor Jamie Bartlett.
With Battle in the Bush all styles is in contact format where competitors spar full-on contact fighting styles and allow knockout as the winning criterion.
Every year the club hosts these championships where they compete in semi-contact but on this day they had full contact.
Grandmaster Henri Eksteen said young fighters are also allowed in the championship so that they can learn self-defense at a young age.
“The reason is that I want students to be able to defend themselves if they ever need to.”
The championship saw students demonstrate what they learned throughout the year.
Students were awarded medals and certificates for their competence in the rounds they competed in, namely kata and kumite.
Next year the club will celebrate 24 years of the dojo since its opening with grandmaster Eksteen who says he is more than pleased with how the club is growing.
“Our dojo has been open for 24 years and we are growing quite well, even though we were disrupted by Covid-19 for two years, we are now back in full operation.”
He added that students going to participate in other provinces are confident that they will obtain South African colours.
